XMen New Dawn: Journey of a Hero
by IlluminatiKOTE
Summary: Brent has been through ups and downs. There have been budding relationships and bitter rivalries. Since the destruction of the school, Brent's powers have spiraled out of control since his emotional breakdown and now its time to pick up the pieces.
1. Paving the Path of Destruction

**Chapter 1: Paving the Path of Destruction **

The sun is high in the sky on the seemingly cloudless, serene day. There is a slight breeze which seems to be gentle enough to provide comfort but not overwhelming enough to cause a chill. Down below, the busy streets of Manhattan are bustling as people are going about their business. Tourists are taking in the sights, residents off to work or having lunch at one of the many eateries. The day is picture perfect in almost every facet. Suddenly, clouds begin to billow above the city. They start out a pale gray to milk white and soon become dark gray. Onlookers gaze up in confusion as this picturesque day becomes sullen and miserable. Soon the clouds look charcoal black as flashes of light streak across the sky. The roar thunder is deafening as several car alarms start to blare. All of a sudden, the sky erupts in a blinding flash of light as countless bolts of lightning strike anything that is in their way. Screams of terror erupt from the streets as buildings become ablaze. Winds pick up in ferocious gales and cause cars, trucks and whole sections of buildings to be tossed around. Rain comes pouring down in sheets as the sewages systems begin to overflow. Screams of terror are heard as the chaotic scene unfolds. Meanwhile, the New Young Avengers team is assembled at Dr. Strange's Sanctum to assess the situation.

"Where did this erupt from?" Tim said as he teleported in.

"Elias is working on it now." Ben replied. "He has been casting a locating spell to see if he can divine the nature of what is going on."

"Well, we don't have a lot of time." Angela said as a car goes flying by. "It looks like the end of the world out there and we need to stop it."

"There!" Elias said as his eyes stopped glowing. "I have determined the origin of this maelstrom and it feels familiar, very familiar."

"Good, prepare a teleportation spell." Kim said. "Tim, take some people with you so as not to strain Elias. We are going to need his magical abilities near peak to take care of whomever or whatever started this."

"Kim, there's someth…" Elias began.

"No time, we've got to go now!" Kim interrupted.

"But Kim…" Elias pleaded.

"Now Elias, people are dying!" Kim yelled.

"Magical forces from within, take us to where this storm doth begin." Elias said as his hands glowed green.

Soon enough, magical energy engulfs Elias, Ben and Angela as they disappear. Timothy grabs Kyle and Kimberly and follows in suit. Soon both groups appear 50,000ft above the island of Manhattan. Below the group are the charcoal clouds that were causing the devastation on their city. Before them is a boy who looks no older than them; dark skinned with white hair. He appears to be wearing an X-man uniform and his eyes are glowing bright white. Electricity seems to be discharging off of him and looks as though it is fueling the storm. When the groups appear, those who are not flying begin to fall. Angela grabs Kim by her arm while Elias magically grabs Ben. Kyle burst into flames and appeared ready to fight.

"Hey isn't that an X-man uniform?" Ben asked.  
"Yes, that is Young X-man leader Brent Monroe-Summers." Elias said as Angela held up her arm and charged a laser.

"I am Kimberly Rogers of the New Young Avengers, put an end to this immediately and come quietly with us." Kimberly said seriously. "You have 3 seconds to comply."

"Wait Kim, there is something dangerously wrong." Elias said. "I feel very, very off about this."

"The longer we wait, the more people get hurt." Angela said. "I am taking this guy out."

"Wait Angela, my spider sense is going crazy." Ben said as Angela fired a powerful surge of energy at Brent.

Brent looked directly at Elias as the iris of his eyes began to glow crimson within the white.

"_I am so sorry."_ Brent said telepathically.

As soon as the beam appeared to hit Brent, he became engulfed in a crimson glow. Suddenly, Telekinetic and Atmokinetic energy discharged off of Brent in a powerful burst. Time seemed to move slowly as the burst overwhelmed and killed off Elias' friends instantly. When the burst of energy surrounded him, Elias felt blinded with pain as his mind screamed with Brent voice saying,

"_Help Me… Help Me… Help Me…"_

Elias eyes ripped open as they glowed with golden light. Sweat poured off of Elias in buckets as he gasped frantically and blinked furiously. The glow faded as he looked around to see that he is in his room in Greenwich, New York.

'Was that all a dream?' Elias thought as he rubbed his head. 'No it was too real to be a dream. Was it a vision? I have never had visions that intense or so clear before. It was just too surreal.'

Elias got up quickly from his bed and grabbed the bed post as a feeling of nausea swept him.

'It had to have been a vision.' Elias thought as he gained his bearings. 'I've only felt that way after some heavy duty training sessions.'

"_My dear boy, for someone who can see into the future, you sure are pretty slow on the present." _A female voice said telepathically.

"Who is there?" Elias said as his hands began to glow a dim green. "Damn, that vision must've consumed most of my energy."

"_I don't wish to harm you, you silly adolescent." _The voice said. _"You are going to need my help."_

"Who are you?" Elias asked.

Suddenly Elias felt the ever familiar feeling of his mind departing from his body. He looked around as he felt his astral form taking shape on the astral plane. Soon another shape began to form in front of him. This shape took the form of a slender woman who appeared to be rather long in years. Her visage expressed years of wisdom that her body for some reason did not reflect. The only other feature which struck Elias as odd was the dark glasses that this woman wore.

"So I assume you are a telepath, a powerful one at that to pull my astral form from Dr. Strange's sanctum." Elias said. "So I reiterate, who are you?"

"Well since you have not figured it out, I will tell you." The female said. "I am Madam Webb."

"Madame Webb!!" Elias exclaimed. "I thought you were a paraplegic and really old."

"Well, that is not the welcome which I expected. Then again, it is very clear that you need to brush up on your telepathy." Madame Webb said. "I am both of those things that you said, but this is the astral plane; I can make myself look however I please."

"Fair enough" Elias said. "Now why have you brought me here?"

"You have seen a glimpse of what is supposed to happen five hours from now." Madame Webb said.

"You mean my vision?" Elias asked. "So then it was a vision and not just a dream."

"Yes" Madame Webb said. "If that comes to pass, not only will Brent's life be lost, but his actions will lead to drastic consequences for mutants, superheroes, humans and the ecology that will affect the very fabric of our world."

"So what do we need to do?" Elias asked.

"I've tried telepathic contact with Brent, but his mind is in shambles and with his Atmokinesis it is difficult to contact him let alone subdue him." Madame Webb said. "I fear that his mental instability is the cause of what is to come. What you need to do is set up within the sanctum a room which will inhibit his mutant abilities as well as block out Psionic abilities except for mine. Then you need to meet up with Brent en route to Manhattan and teleport him to the prepared room. Then we can start him on his journey."

"You do realize I am not a former or current Sorcerer Supreme." Elias said incredulously. "I am just a teenager with a limit to my magical abilities. I don't have enough magical energy to do all of that. In fact, I am not even at full strength because of that vision. I don't know if I can do this and what do you mean 'start him on his journey'? I don't understand any of this."

"Elias you are a resourceful young mage and will understand the purpose of this in time." Madame Webb said. "For now, prepare what needs to be prepared by any means."

On her words, Madame Webb disappeared and Elias felt his astral form returned to his body. He looked around his room and threw on some clothes quickly. He quickly looked back at his clock and saw the face read 9am.

'Well I have my work set for me.' Elias thought as he got to work.

Meanwhile…

"Stop tormenting me!" Brent said out loud as a flash of lightning scorched the sky.

"_What torment?" _A voice said telepathically.

"You're not real!" Brent yelled.

"_I never said I was; I am you." _The voice said simply. _"These thoughts, voices, everything is all yours. Now, go back and do what is right…kill Joshua."_

"No!" Brent yelled as the storm worsened. "He is not guilty of anything but trying to save people. You are not real and not apart of me."

"_Oh but I am Brent and this is who you are" _The voice said. _"Think about this, you control the weather, one of the most violent forces of nature. You are the embodiment of destruction and despair. Also, you have one the most powerful young telepathic mutant minds. You were right in using your power the way that you did, just to see if you could do it. Because you are powerful and they only way to get more powerful is to push the boundaries of power. That is your nature… that is who you are."_

"I can't be…" Brent said.

"_And why not?" _The voice asked. _"You think of yourself as nature's master, bending its power to your own will and you manipulate the minds of any who get in your way. It is your nature… embrace it."  
_"Maybe it is my nature…" Brent said quietly. "Maybe I only live to destroy like the hurricanes and tornadoes I summon."

"_That's it Brent, come to terms with your true nature." _The voice said. _"Unleash your power on the world. And start at the center of superhero community… destroy Manhattan."_

"It is my destiny…" Brent said as the storm picked up.

Sometime later…

'I hope Billy doesn't mind me borrowing some things from the new Sanctum Sanctorum.' Elias thought. 'It must be luck that he is away and a lot of his spells still recognize me from the visits that I take. Now where does he keep it?'

Elias wandered around the newest Sanctum Sanctorum. The layout of Wiccan's Sanctorum Sanctorum is similar to Dr Strange's. Elias' hands began to glow green as he cast a location spell. He concentrated immensely until a glowing green line appeared before him.

'I hope this spell worked.' Elias thought.

Elias followed the green line out of the main room and down a long, winding hallway. The hallway seemed to be unnaturally long as Elias passed the fiftieth door in that hallway. He was about to try something else until the line stopped in front of a door.

'I guess this is it.' Elias thought as he opened the door.

Suddenly a bright light engulfed Elias. He quickly shielded his eyes as he felt his body being pulled to another place. When he opened his eyes, Elias sees a darkness abound with something glimmering in the center.

'This must be it, the Wand Of Watoomb.' Elias thought.

"Who desires the Wand of Watoomb, rightful artifact of the Sorcerer Supreme?" A voice boomed.

"My name is Elias Strange, son of Dr Stephen and Clea Strange." Elias said. 'This must be the spirit of Watoomb.'

"Yes, Dr. Stephen Strange, former Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth dimension…" The voice said. "He squandered his magicks and took advantage of his title. For what reason do you require the services of the wand?"

"I do not seek the power of the wand for myself. I require the power of the wand to aid another in a journey of self-discovery and lead him off the path of destruction." Elias replied.

"What makes you think that it's your responsibility to change this other's destiny, oracle?" the voice asked.

"The fate of the world as well as his own well being hangs in the balance." Elias began. "I cannot in good conscience stand by and let this happen. If I can save someone else with the powers that I have, than I will. Otherwise, there is no reason to have this power."

"I sense the sincerity in your words and the purity of your soul." The voice said. "The Wand of Watoomb is yours for the services that you require it for."

Elias reached out for the light and found himself pull once again to another place. Elias opened his eyes and discovered that he was back at his father's sanctum. He quickly found an empty room and began his work. He took out the wand and began to make very complex gestures.

"Wondrous Wand of Watoomb,

I invoke your power in this room.

Let your energies flow and others Ebb,

Except for myself and Madame Webb.

I bind this spell with powers of yours and mine,

Accept these limits of my design."

As Elias cast his spell, green and silver energy resounded in the room. Suddenly, there were many different signs, sigils, and symbols all around Elias. The wand glowed in the center of one of the arcane circles and soon disappeared. Once this happened, Elias saw the other symbols merge into the walls and disappear. Satisfied Elias checked his watch.

"Oh shoot, I need to find him now." Elias said out loud.

Elias gathered more magical energy in his hands and began to concentrate. He felt his mind drift into an astral state and project itself in the physical world. He drifted across Manhattan and further north. Suddenly the weather around him almost instantaneously became disturbingly violent.

"There he is." Elias gasped as he returned to his body.

Elias once again gathered more magical energy and disappeared in a cloud of bright green smoke. He reappeared in the midst of a massive hurricane. Elias appeared to have a green energy surrounding him. He moved towards the eye of the hurricane until he saw Brent.

"Brent!" Elias yelled.

"Who… Elias, what are you doing here?" Brent asked.

"I am here to stop you." Elias replied.

"_Destroy him." _ The voice said. _"He is standing in the way of your destiny."_

"I am not going to kill him or should…" Brent began.

"Brent, who are you talking to?" Elias asked.

"I don't kill." Brent yelled.

"_But you do, or did you forget Maria."_ The voice said coolly. _"She was a menace, stood in your way as does this one." _

"Brent…" Elias said slowly.

"I'm sorry." Brent said quietly.

"Shield of Seraphim, defend me!" Elias yelled as a bright red shield appeared around him as three bolts of lightning struck the shield.

"Don't fight me, your destiny ends here." Brent said as Elias noticed Brent's irises begin to turn crimson.

"Forces of Nature perverted by power consume your master and now devour!" Elias yelled.

At that moment, six bolts of lightning came down from the sky and struck Brent one after the other. Brent, overwhelmed by the attack and overexertion, passed out. Without his fuel driving the storm, the hurricane begins to blow itself out as Brent falls rapidly from the sky.

"Winds of Watoomb, catch him." Elias said as a gust of wind levitates the limp body of Brent. "Magic from within once again I call; take us to the sanctum once and for all."

The magical energy gathered around Elias and Brent as the two disappeared. The two of them reappeared rather roughly in the room previously prepared by Elias. Elias grunted as he hit the ground and felt exhaustion creep up within him. He got up when he heard Brent begin to stir.

"Where am I?" Brent asked as he groaned.

"You are at Dr. Strange's Sanctum." Elias said wearily.

"Elias, what happened?" Brent asked.

"Well, I think the better question is what happened with you?" Elias asked.

"I… oh no…" Brent said.

"What is it?" Elias asked.

"I've done some terrible things." Brent replied with sorrow.

"What do you mean?" Elias asked.

"I don't know." Brent began. "We acquired a new teammate with whom I initially did not trust nor thought he should be on the team. The problems that we had were rather personal and ran very deep. I felt more upset with him than I probably should've been. I think that was when the voice started."

"The voice?" Elias said.

"Yea, see I have this ability to sense thoughts in my mind that are not my own." Brent said. "And when I first started hearing this 'voice', I didn't feel like it was foreign. However, it expressed ideas and thoughts that I agreed with but would not openly do. Also, I had Professor Xavier manipulate my mind in order to let there be peace amongst myself and this other teammate."

"Thus lowering your mental defenses against this voice..." Elias said with realization.

"I think so, but I don't even know if it was a separate entity." Brent said sorrowfully.

"The things I did were things I never thought I would do, but still did not oppose. Now I don't even know who I am. Who is Brent? Who is Psychic Storm? Who am I?"

"These are very valid questions." Elias said. "I think what you are experiencing is a break down of the mind, even the very psyche. I am not an expert, but I think I know someone who can help you."

"Who?" Brent asked.

"A telepath… a very powerful telepath." Elias replied.

"I think I have had my fill of telepaths roaming around in my head." Brent said exasperatingly. "This whole problem began with my telepathy."

"Therefore isn't it logical that it end with telepathy?" Elias said. "You are clearly having issues with identity and that is leaking into your powers. When I found you, you were completely out of control and almost led people to disaster. Just give her a chance."

"Your logic is true, I agree to it so long as Emma Frost doesn't come in here." Brent said.

"Don't worry; I don't think you know this one." Elias said as his hands glowed green.

Suddenly, a flash of green light briefly blinded the duo. After blinking furiously, a figure came into view. This figure is a frail, older looking woman in a wheelchair. There were machines and wiring all over her.

"Brent, meet Madam Webb." Elias said.

"Hello" Brent said.

"Hello Mr. Monroe-Summers." Madam Webb said. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."

"Well I guess the pleasure is all mine." Brent said.

"I feel that you are worried about my presence, but I assure you that you have no need to fear." Madam Webb said warmly.

"It's nothing against you; I have just had a lot of people and voices in my head lately…" Brent began. "Wait, I don't hear it anymore… In fact I can't hear anyone else's thoughts."

"Yes, this room has been designed to block your mutant abilities while we have you regain full control of your mind and thereby your powers." Madam Webb said.

"I don't know…" Brent said.

"Brent trust me." Elias said. "When you were hearing voices out there, you had a storm going that would've taken out the entire island of Manhattan."

"Alright, what is this going to involve?" Brent asked.

"Well, I will need to probe your mind in order to understand the extent of the damage that has been done." Madame Webb said. "Then you will work through the rest of it your own way. Brent, you are beginning a journey of self discovery that you have to figure out. There are going to be some parts of it where you discover things about yourself that you never knew, never wanted to know, or didn't realize you had or were capable of. Are you ready?"

"… I'm ready" Brent said with resignation.

"Then let's begin." Madame Webb said.


	2. The Mindscape Reveals All

**Chapter 2: The Mindscape Reveals All**

Brent felt a familiar feeling. It felt like a tingling in his mind. He knew this feeling very well since he has experienced it so often. Madame Web has begun to probe his mind. He began to think of all the times when his mind had been invaded. Usually it felt like someone had driven a hot poker through his head or just rather uncomfortable. He guessed this was usually because his powers did everything they could to try and prevent the invasion. Brent closed his eyes as his perception of things around him changed. He is no longer in the blank room with Elias and Madame Web. He opens his eyes and sees a meadow. There appears to be a massive hurricane with whipping winds, torrential rainfall, thunder and lightning. Brent looked up at the sky and saw massive tears and different images. Some of the images looked familiar and others looked entirely foreign.

"So this is your mind?" Madame Web asked. "It's rather miserable."

"Well, it usually does not look like this." Brent replied. "It is usually a lot more peaceful."

"Well this is your mind, why did you make it look this way?" Madame Web asked.

"You are the one with telepathy; you decide how it looks." Brent said.

"That may be true, but I am only projecting what you envision your mind to be." Madame Web replied. "So I ask again, why this scene?"

"Well, being tied to the Earth and the Elements so strongly, weather influences my symbolism to a certain degree." Brent began. "This bond I have is emotional and I guess my emotions are reflected through that type of weather. Since I am confused, ashamed, guilty, disappointed, angry and just plain overwhelmed, my mind is reflecting all of them via this hurricane. It's chaotic and destructive with no real rhyme or reason."

"It's interesting that you have such a vivid interpretation of your mind." Madame Web said. "Now why are you feeling this way?"

"I messed up." Brent said simply. "I messed up being a leader, being a good teammate, protecting my team, being a good person, controlling my powers, you name it and I have messed it up."

"At least you are able to admit that much." Madame Web said. "Now the first thing we need to do is clear your mind of everything that does not belong."

"What do you mean?" Brent asked.

"As I sift through your mind, there are memories on top of memories which I assume are indicated by the rips in the sky." Madame Web said pointing.

"Yea, when I was having problems with Josh, Professor Xavier manipulated my memories in order for us to get along." Brent explained. "However, I began to remember some of the memories he locked away. I guess I thought they were just memories that belonged and my mind integrated them."

"It appears that when you started to remember more, your mind partitioned all of your memories which created these rips in your mindscape." Madame Web said as a huge screen appeared before them.

"What is this?" Brent asked.

"This is the entry way to your memories." Madame Web said. "We must sort out this part before we do anything else. After you..."

"Well here goes…" Brent said as he walked through the screen.

Brent felt himself being pulled deeper and deeper into a vortex. Images flooded passed him as he fell deeper into his mind. He kept seeing images of him and Josh hanging out, joking around, and being friends. Then there were images of Brent being malicious and vindictive towards Josh.

"There appears to be a central focus around this one individual." Madame Web said as an image of Joshua appeared.

"Yea that is Joshua Essex, my half-uncle." Brent said.

"Half-Uncle?" Madame Web asked.

"Yea, he is the son of Madelyne Pryor and Mr. Sinister." Brent explained. "It's weird that we're related and I don't think he has any idea."  
"Well this person seems to be a part of the central problem, so what seems to be the issue?" Madame Web inquired.

"Well before I found out that we were related, he and I were best friends at the institute." Brent began. "Living in Kenya most of my life, I had never really had friends my own age. I mean, we had Grey family reunions and things like that, but they were every so often. So when I got to the institute and Josh accepted me into his group of friends, I finally felt like I belonged."  
"That doesn't sound too awful." Madame Web said as images of Joshua began to disappear.

"It wasn't really; Joshua was just different than what my parents taught me and what Xavier stressed on us. He believed that we should use our powers for our own benefit and exploit our abilities as much as we wanted." Brent said. "It was little things at first; reading other people's minds without permission, mind controlling people for our own benefit. It was wrong and I knew it."

"But…" Madame Web pressed.

"But… it was fun." Brent finally said. "I enjoyed doing that, using my powers freely and without constraint. I had a great time hanging out with their group and doing whatever I wanted."

"I am assuming that this idea changed." Madame Web said.

"It did when the riot happened." Brent began as the scenery changed. "Josh finally thought that we should expand our message… his dream as he called it."

Suddenly Brent and Madame Web are looking over a younger Brent and Joshua talking in a hallway. The hall appears to be dark as the boys whisper.

"Brent, it is finally time to act!" Josh said excitedly.

"What are you suggesting?" Brent asked.

"We take down the X-men and Xavier." Joshua said.

"What? Are you mad?" Brent asked loudly.

"Shush… Look, we're just going to host a riot to show that this little reservation they have us on isn't as safe as they would like to think." Joshua said. "They need to know that we need to be proactive."  
"Josh this is insane." Brent said. "Look I don't think you've thought about this clearly."

"Brent this is the first time that I've been thinking clearly in a long time." Josh said. "You don't think that they aren't in our minds dictating what we should do with our powers and how we should act."

"No, the professors wouldn't allow that to happen." Brent said.

"Brent, think about it, Xavier is the world's most powerful telepath." Josh said. "He can do whatever he wants. If the staff doesn't agree with him, then he just makes them. We have to fight this injustice."

"But what about everybody else that's here? Someone could get hurt." Brent said.

"We'll make sure no one gets hurt, but I can't make any promises." Josh said. "Remember no matter what side, we are fighting a war."

"I can't… this is really wrong." Brent said.

"Brent, you're a bright and powerful kid." Josh said. "We need your help to get this done."

"I can't and I don't think you should do this." Brent said.

"If you are not with us, than you are against us." Josh said.  
"Josh, I will tell everyone to make sure this does not happen." Brent said as his eyes began to glow red.

"No" Joshua said as his eyes glowed as well

The scene begins to fade out as Madame Web looked over to Brent.

"So what did he do to you?" Madame Web asked.

"He used his mental amnesia to make me forget everything about the riot." Brent said. "Then he used his mind control to have me fight the professors that were chasing him during the riot. Something went wrong and I experienced everything that terrified my professors and my mother. That was the worst day of my life, which was where the anger began."

"So why are you angry, violent even?" Madame Web asked.

"Because he violated my mind!" Brent yelled incredulously. "He took advantage of something that I hold very sacred."  
"Well didn't you do the same? To all those thoughts you read and minds you controlled." Madame Web said. "Why was this any different? What is the real reason you were violently angry at Joshua?"

"I… I felt powerless…" Brent said. "He made me feel like I was a weak, powerless child. I wanted him to feel that way. I wanted him to feel as weak and helpless as I felt. I knew his powers and I knew how they worked. I wanted to attack that same person that started the riot, that same manipulative person."

"But…" Madame said.  
"He wasn't the same when he came back." Brent said. "He was different, more mature and ready to accept responsibility for what he did. I hated him for it; I hated the fact that I could not get my revenge. So I pushed him and tried to bring back the old Josh, but it didn't happen until I thought he was responsible for the death of Luke Moonstar. That was all the fuel I needed."

Suddenly, all of the false images of Joshua disappeared from his mind all together and the meadow became less turbulent. The rain began to fall more steadily, less torrential. Flashes of lightning became less frequent while thunder gently rumbled. The wind was still gale force but not as much as before.

"You have finally come to accept the true motivations of why you were enemies with Joshua." Madame Web said. "The mind is a very complex thing and becomes increasingly more complex when powers come into play, especially Psionics. Unresolved issues tend to build up and can literally take over when you repress things."

"It does feel good to finally admit my true motivations, but that makes me a terrible person." Brent said.

"The feelings of vengeance and revenge are never good, but it is good to tell people of these feeling so they can help you work through them." Madame Web said. "Now the weather may have gotten better back there, but there is still much we have to work through. Now these two girls seem to be coming up a lot."

Suddenly in front of Brent and Madame Web appeared two people. On the right was a girl with short black hair, wearing a scarlet costume. On the left was a girl with longer brownish black hair wearing a black X-men suit. Both girls were the same height and looked very familiar to Brent. His face looked shocked as the two girls came into full view.

"Jen… Maria…" Brent said as he looked from left to right.

"From your voice I would say that these girls meant a lot to you." Madame Web said.

"I loved both of them and I messed up with both of them." Brent said. "I killed Maria, it was the first time I had ever taken another life."

The image of Maria walked over to Brent. She grabbed his hand and held it in hers.

"Brent, was it really so wrong of you to kill me?" Maria asked.

"Yes, I murdered you." Brent said with his eyes misting. "I took away any chance that you had to be rehabilitated; any chance of you living out your life."

"Don't you see, my life ended when I went too far with my revenge." Maria said. "I wanted to make everyone pay for my problems; the X-men, Joshua, the Avengers, everyone."

"We could've helped you." Brent said resting his head on her shoulder. "I could've thought of something that would've helped… something other than killing you."

"There was nothing you could've done." Maria said. "I was already too far gone in my own quest for power. I was ready to kill you both in that throne room. Part of me was merely toying with you while the other part of me wanted you to stop me while I stalled myself from killing you. I hoped that you would stop me."

"Maria… I…" Brent said.

"Shhh, shhh, don't apologize to me Brent." Maria said. "It is not your fault. You did what you thought was right. It's better that you killed to stop me than let me kill Joshua."

"Are you sure I did the right thing?" Brent asked.

"Brent, look at me." Maria said as Brent lifted his head up. "If you were out of control and were going to kill someone you love and care for, would you have wanted me to kill you to stop you if there was no other way?"

"…yes, I would hope that you would do that." Brent said after a while.

"I am glad." Maria said.

"I still feel guilty." Brent said.  
"It will get better… it will get better." Maria said as she started to fade.

"Maria, wait… Maria!" Brent yelled.

"Goodbye Brent" Maria said as she disappeared.

Madame Web came over to Brent and placed a hand on his shoulder. He jerked it away and looked at Madame with fury blazing in his eyes.

"What the hell kind of tricks are you playing?" Brent yelled.

"What do you mean?" Madame Web asked.

"Maria is dead; there is no way I could've communicated with her just now unless you used your telepathy to make this all up!" Brent yelled.

"My dear boy, I am not going to lie to you." Madame began calmly. "I used my telepathy, however not in the way that you think. There was a fragment of Maria's mind in yours; hidden. As you began to slip deeper into chaos, you completely missed it. I assume it was from when you went into her mind to return the world back to the way it was."

"That was why I kept seeing her face." Brent said with realization. "I am sorry Madame Web."

"It's quite alright; this is a rather traumatic time right now." Madame Web said as Jen walked forward. "This is another person with whom you have problems."

"Jennifer…" Brent said as she faded away.

"There seem to be memories which are the same with the only exception being that they are different points of view." Madame Web said.

"Yea" Brent said guiltily. "That is my fault; yet another one of my failures."  
"What happened?" Madame Web asked.

"I loved Jen; in fact I still love Jen." Brent began. "I have probably hurt her more than anyone else could have. I never let her in, never exposed my emotions to her. I did not want her to get hurt."  
"And yet again, here we are Brent." Madame Web said. "Haven't you learned that not everything you do is as selfless as you might think."  
"Fine, I was scared!" Brent said. "I was scared of her leaving me, I was scared of her hurting me, and I was scared of losing control of my powers because of exposing my emotions… I was just plain scared."  
"That's the key; fear was your motivation to repress yourself around Jennifer." Madame Web said. "You were not worried about her well being, you were worried about your own insecurities."  
"Yes I get it; I am an awful person and treated her terribly." Brent said. "Is that what you want to hear?"

"No, I want to hear that you are human and a teenager." Madame retorted. "What teenager isn't insecure about them self in some way, shape, or form? That is what causes mistakes to happen."

"But I took her memories of me." Brent said. "I completely wiped my existence from her mind."

"Why did you do that?" Madame Webb asked.

"She was going to stop me from taking my revenge out on Joshua." Brent said. "I needed her out of the way."

"So then why not telepathically influence her or something of that sort?" Madame Web asked.

"To some degree, I did not want to take away her free will. I wanted her to live her life without me because all I do is hurt her and I want her to finally be happy." Brent said.

"I think that was the only time that you have been sincere and honest." Madame Web said. "But did you really give her free will? You took away her choice when you took away yourself as an option."

"She doesn't need me as an option." Brent said.

"Isn't that her decision to make?" Madame Web asked as all of Jen's memories went into a small box that appeared in front of her. "I am collecting all of the memories you took from her in this box. I am sure after this journey you will know what to do."

The box began to fill up with images and memories until there were none left. The box closed and suddenly disappeared. The meadow reappeared with the sky being overcast with gray clouds. The rain had stopped and the winds are flowing gently. There are no longer rips in the sky. Overall the weather has started to look like the beginnings of a miserable day.

"Well we've gotten through many of the issues that you've had with people, but one more still remains." Madame Web said as the scenery changed to the inside of a laboratory. "So what have we here?"

"This is… it can't be…" Brent said.

"What?" Madame Web asked.  
"This is probably the biggest mistake I have ever made." Brent said as he looked at Charles floating in a tube.  
"I humiliated him; I used my telepathy to trick him into thinking that Amy wanted to go to the dance with him." Brent began. "And then to cover for my actions, I telepathically showed him his worst fear at that moment. He ran out and I didn't care. That's when he was captured. That is when he was turned into this."  
"Why did you humiliate him?" Madame Web asked.

"I don't know." Brent replied.

"Brent, don't regress now." Madame Web said. "I know why you did that, because I can read your mind."

"Then why does it need to be said." Brent said.

"You know why it needs to be said." Madame Web said. "It has been the whole point of this."  
"I wanted to take him down a peg." Brent said. "He gets so arrogant because Logan is his father and he has a healing factor. I wanted to show him that he is not as untouchable as he thinks."

"You wanted to prove something?" Madame Web asked.

"I wanted to just show him that there are some wounds you just can't heal from." Brent said. "I wanted to assert my power and just really test the extent of my abilities. He has resistance because we are related and I just wanted to test how far that went."

"And then this happened?" Madam Web asked.

"Yea and I didn't make any attempt to figure this out until I was forced to read his mind." Brent said. "It's my fault that he got captured. If none of that happened…"

"Brent, we can spend our entire lives thinking about what could've happened." Madame Web said. "If he had not been captured there, he would've been captured at some other point. There is something I will reveal to you, this "mistake" is one that will not last as long as the others."  
"What?" Brent said confused.  
"In time you will see." Madame Web said.

The landscape of the meadow returned. The sky looked fully repaired as the clouds began to break and sunlight peered down at them. The wind has calmed to a gentle breeze. Everything looks just about the way that it used to.

"We've gone through a lot since we have been in here and you faced a lot of your own personal demons." Madame Web began. "There is only one left, one that has nothing to do with anyone else…"

A man appeared before Brent. His shape started to phase in slowly but Brent knew right off the bat who it was.

"Classic psychology, facing yourself after everything else." Brent said as an image of himself appeared.

"Yes and No." Madame Web said.

This "Brent" walked over to Brent. He was dressed in the uniform that Scott and Emma made for him.

"I'm Psychic Storm." Psychic Storm said as he held out his hand.

"What game are you playing?" Brent asked.

"It's your mind and this is a mental image of Psychic Storm." Madame Web said. "Interact with it."

"Okay, I'm Brent." Brent said as he shook hands with Psychic Storm. "Who are you?"

"I am master of the elements and psionics." Psychic Storm said. "I am field leader of the Young X-men team and I fight against any and all evil."

"What defines you?" Brent asked.

"Well, my powerful control over the elements, my powerful Psionic abilities, my strong moral judgment, and my leadership skills." Psychic Storm replied.

"How do you know if someone is evil?" Brent asked.  
"It's simple, they aren't good." Psychic Storm said simply. "They commit atrocities and fight against those that are trying to do good."

"But what if they were once evil and have reformed?" Brent inquires.

"There is no such thing as reform for evil." Psychic Storm replied. "If they have "reformed", they are probably doing it to get something out of it and will betray you the first chance they get."

"But what if they are good and turn over to evil?" Brent asked.  
"Then I fight tooth and nail to bring them back." Psychic Storm answered.

"Why is there a standard?" Brent asked.

"There is no standard, good has just fallen off the path and evil can never escape its path." Psychic Storm said.

"So where does being a teenager come into play?" Brent asked.

"What do you mean?" Psychic Storm looked at Brent confused.

"You know, hanging out, having fun, dating… Where does this all come in?" Brent asked.

"It doesn't, there is no time for leisure when there are threats out there." Psychic Storm said. "All these relationships you have inhibit your ability to think clearly and make you vulnerable."

"So what about even having emotions?" Brent asked.  
"They must be disciplined like the mind in order to be put to their greatest use." Psychic Storm said. "Now I have a question for you."

"Go ahead." Brent said.  
"Who do you want to be?" Psychic Storm asked.

"I don't know…" Brent replied. "I can agree with some of the things that you are saying but other things sound very narrow minded and self-righteous."  
"Well I am an extension of you." Psychic Storm said. "So you don't know who you want to be, who are you now?"

"Confused" Brent answered truthfully. "What I do know is that I am no longer Psychic Storm."

"Then you better figure it out." Psychic Storm said as he began to fade away. "Just remember, you are a team leader first. Nothing comes before the team including you."

As he faded away into the reaches of Brent's mind the sky cleared completely. All of a sudden, a citadel appeared emanating Psionic energy.

"I can't believe that was me." Brent said. "Or maybe still is me."  
"Brent, you have the power to discover your own path." Madame Web said as she walked over to the citadel. "Now this is interesting, what is it?"

"It is an area of my mind that stores Psionic energy." Brent said. "When I perform some pretty amazing feats, I am able to draw off of that."  
"Incredible, it looks as if it were completely unaffected by Elias' spell." Madame Web said. "And every time I try to penetrate it, I feel as if it is a black hole trying to suck me in, never allowing me to escape."

"Yea, my dad tried to investigate it, but he felt the same thing so he just left it alone." Brent said.

"Do you feel better?" Madame Web asked.  
"I feel more at peace with myself." Brent said. "But I still have some unanswered questions that I think I need to look for on my own."

"Very well." Madam Web said.

The meadow soon disappeared as the blank room appeared. Brent opened his eyes as Elias walked back into the room.

"Is everything okay?" Elias asked.  
"Yea, everything is fine." Madame Web said. "And if you could be so kind as to return me home."  
"Is that it?" Elias asked.

"Yea I am back in control and the threat is gone." Brent said calmly.

"Very well" Elias said gathering energy. "Thank you Madame Web"  
"Yes, thank you." Brent said.  
"The pleasure was all mine, just remember Brent, it is up to you and you alone to discover who you are and define yourself." Madame Web said as she disappeared.

"So what are you going to do now?" Elias asked.

"I don't know." Brent replied. "I feel like I resolved all of my mental issues, but I feel as though my bond with the elements is not the same."  
"Hmmm, I think I know someone who might be able to help." Elias said.  
"Who?" Brent asked.

"Gaea" Elias replied.

"As in the Earth mother, the goddess?" Brent asked. "Isn't she just a myth?"

"Oh no, she is very much real." Elias said. "Since she is the embodiment of Earth, maybe she can resolve those issues."  
"I am willing to try anything at this point." Brent said. "So where is this Gaea?"  
"Avalon, another dimension." Elias said.

"How am I going to get there?" Brent asked.  
"Well I have enough power to get you there and I am kind of hoping Gaea will bring you back." Elias said.  
"What do you mean hoping?" Brent asked.

"Well, there is no definite… but since you are an avatar of the elements and essentially here on Earth, she should be fine with visiting." Elias said.  
"Okay, thanks Elias for all of this." Brent said "I owe you a favor of anything. Whatever you need I will do my best to help you get."  
"I'll hold you to that." Elias said as he gathered magical energy.

"Forces of nature, your avatar is here,

Transport him to a place which his powers hold dear.

Use his connection to the Earth from the Sun,

Take Brent now the dimension Avalon."

Green energy gathered around Brent as he soon disappeared in cloud of green smoke.

"Goodbye and good luck friend." Elias said as he closed the door to the blank room.


	3. The Bond of the Elements

**Chapter 3: The Bond of the Elements**

Brent landed rather hard on the soil as he appeared in a puff of smoke. He groaned as he lifted himself off of the ground. He shook off the disorientation of being sent to another dimension and began to look around. He saw the most wondrous of things. It was as if he had walked into the heart of a fairytale. He is in the midst of a forest where the trees feel vibrant, almost teeming with life. Not the ordinary mundane plant life, but almost intelligent life. There appeared to be small woodland creatures that were mythological in origin like sprites, fae creatures, and other briar creatures. Brent's senses went into overload as he Atmokinetic powers connected him to every faucet of this world. Every miniscule creature and meteorological pattern seemed to flood into his very being and brought a sense of intense euphoria. He fell against a tree and concentrated to compose himself.

"I've haven't felt like that since I first used my Atmokinetic powers." Brent said as he thought back. "I'd almost forgotten how it really feels to summon the elements."

It was a warm, humid day on the plains of Kenya. There was a small village located on the Kenyan/Ugandan border. This village was unlike any of the neighboring villages because there were some aspects and technologies of the modern world which were widely seen. Along a small stream, there is a modest sized cabin. This cabin had predominant features of the modern world, but more of the detail represented traditional African tribal features. Inside this home are the couple Nathan Monroe-Summers and Ororo Monroe-Summers. Nathan is sitting in his study reviewing some data from the hydroelectric facility powering the village while Ororo is in the kitchen preparing lunch. A young Brent descends from the second floor and walks into his father's study.

"Dad, I'm bored." Brent said as he walked in.  
"Brent, I need to work on these computations." Nathan said. "Find something to do."  
"But dad…" Brent whined.

"Brent I'll be done in a about an hour, then I will do whatever you want." Nathan said. "But until then, you are on your own. See what mom is doing."

"Alright" Brent said as he went into the kitchen.

"Mom, I'm bored." Brent said as he sat down by the counter.

"Honey, I'm making lunch and then I have to head into the village." Ororo said.

"How come everyone is so busy?" Brent asked pouting.

"Sweetheart, your dad and I still have lots of work to do here." Ororo replied. "When we're done, we'll play as much as you want to."

"So what am I supposed to do?" Brent asked still pouting.

"Go outside and explore." Ororo said. "I am sure you will find something."  
"Okay" Brent sighed.

"Just don't wander too far." Ororo said as her son walked out.

Brent walked outside and became really warm rather quickly. He looked out to the landscaped and sighed.

"What am I even supposed to do out here?" Brent said as he walked over to the stream. "Everything here is so boring."

Brent looked down at his reflection in the stream and threw a rock into it. He watched as the water rippled and momentarily distorted his visage. The water soon reverted back to its peaceful state as Brent continued to stare.

"Why is there no one my age here to play with?" Brent said with anger.

Clouds began to billow in the sky.

"Why do I have to be stuck here with no one to hang out with?" Brent said even angrier.

A small rumble in sky can be heard.

"Why am I alone?!" Brent yelled.

Lightning flashed as bolt struck down. On the cabin…

"Honey, are you okay?" Nathan said as he ran into the room.  
"I am." Ororo replied worriedly.

"I thought it was supposed to be sunny and warm today." Nathan said.  
"Yes it is." Ororo said. "What concerns me is that I did not cause this."

"Who did?" Nathan said. "Brent…?"  
"No, I don't think so." Ororo said as her eyes began to glow white. "I think it may be."

Outside…

Brent's eyes begin to glow white as his anger fueled the storm. Soon the winds began to pick up as rain started to fall heavily. Brent began to "feel" the storm. He felt the surging energies and power this storm is building. It felt as though his body is no longer a physical entity but apart of this storm; fueling its power. Waves of euphoria sweep Brent into this building typhoon as he is pulled into the air. His thoughts become incomprehensible as he the primal force of the elements pulls him in deeper. He almost loses all sense of self until he felt his connection waning and felt the storm settle. Brent looks around and sees his mother with her eyes glowing white and his father with his left eye glowing yellow. When the storm begins to blow itself out, waves of exhaustion overwhelm Brent as he is gently levitated out of the sky by his father.

"I guess he takes after his mom." Nathan said as he catches Brent.

"Such power in that storm…" Ororo said as her eyes reverted to their vibrant blue. "He is going to be powerhouse, I can feel it."

Young Brent passed out as present Brent gains his bearings in this new and different landscape.

'I need to discover the location of Gaea.' Brent thought. 'I wonder if my telepathy will discern her location.'

Brent's eyes began to glow crimson red as his mind began to reach out. His Psionic abilities enabled to sense any sentient life form around here. Once his mind opened up to the life of this dimension, he became flooded with the thoughts of everything in this area. Brent quickly set up Psionic shields to protect his mind from the incoming thoughts of all the life teeming in this dimension.

'Well I guess telepathy is not going to be my greatest asset here.' Brent thought. 'I thought I sensed something several feet in this direction.'

Brent quickly looked for a path of sorts. Soon he was able to find a dirt path in the middle of the forest. It looked similar enough to a hiking trail so he followed it for a while. Soon Brent encountered a frantic man. He was dressed in traditional Roman army garb.

"Excuse me…" Brent said as he walked up to the man.

"What!" The man wheeled around and yelled.

"Oh I'm sorry, I am looking for Gaea." Brent replied surprised.

"Who are you and why do you want to see Gaea?" The man asked eyeing Brent suspiciously.

"Oh that would help. My name is Brent and I am a mutant." Brent said. "I was hoping that Gaea might be able to help me with a problem I've been having."

"How did you get here?" the man asked.

"Well, my friend Elias is a sorcerer and transported me here." Brent replied.

"Elias, the son of Strange..." The man replied.

"Yes, he sent me here to find some answers." Brent said. "See I control the weather and…"

"Wait… what?" The man asked.

"Yes that is my mutant ability along with telepathy and telekinesis but that is not the problem." Brent began.

"So you control the elements?" The man interrupted.

"Yes…" Brent said looking at the man quizzically.

"Then you must be the one." The man muttered.

"Excuse me" Brent said.

"There is not much time; my name Eraion" Eraion replied. "She's been captured by another; an evil entity known as Praxis."

"Who is that?" Brent inquired.

"He is being who wishes to destroy Gaea and the world that she has created." Eraion explained. "He has slowly been infecting your world through the minds of men who propagate pollution but for the most part the damage has been minimal. However, he has recently been able to infiltrate Avalon and has captured Gaea."

"We need to help her." Brent said.  
"We want to but her magic is the driving force of this world." Eraion said. "Praxis's presence here has perverted this and twisted the natural order of the magicks here. Her powers have been disabled as well as our abilities granted by her to us."

"That must be why my telepathy picked up on everything when I tried to find someone here." Brent said. "It felt like everything was just mentally screaming."  
"Yes, we have been trying to get a message to someone out there." Eraion said. "However, there has been no answer until you have arrived here."

"Alright, where is this Praxis?" Brent asked.  
"He has taken refuse in the Citadel of the Elements." Eraion said as he dropped to the floor.

"Hey, are you okay?" Brent asked.

"He is draining her again." Eraion said. "I do not think that she can take much more."

"I feel it too." Brent said.  
"Yes, you are connected through your elemental abilities." Eraion said. "Now we must go; quickly."

"Alright" Brent said as his eyes glowed red.

Suddenly both he and Eraion took to the skies towards a massive citadel. Eraion shifted uncomfortably. Brent noticed this and projected his thoughts through the mindscape to Eraion.

"_What is the trouble?" _Brent asked telepathically.

'Why do you not use the winds to take us there?' Eraion thought.

"_When I attempted to use the elements here before, I was overwhelmed by the primal nature of this place. It reminded of when I first used the elements."_ Brent replied._ "It scared me because I almost lost control. I've lost control once and almost killed an innocent man; well innocent of what I accused him of and almost destroyed New York. I can't use my elemental powers again until I talk to Gaea and reassert control."_

'We need you to use your powers.' Eraion said.

"_I can't." _Brent replied.

'His only weakness is the power of the elements!' Eraion thoughts screamed. 'That is why he is draining Gaea of her elemental magic; it is also why he has inhibited our powers because he knows they are the only things that can defeat him. You must use those abilities.'

"_I cannot, I will help rescue Gaea using my telepathic and telekinetic abilities and everything will work out."_ Brent said.

'You better hope so.' Eraion thought.

The Citadel began to get larger and larger as the pair approached. As it comes into view, the Citadel looks dark and twisted. The architecture is glistening in dark obsidian. The edges of buildings are very angled with sharp peaks.

"_I am telepathically cloaking us so we don't trip any alarms or anything like that."_ Brent said.

'That is a good idea.' Eraion thought.

Brent floated them over to a window where the curtain was opened. The pair peered through the window and saw a throne in a slick dark room. The only offer of illumination is from scattered around the room. In the corner of the room, a cage made of wrought iron stands. Surrounding the cage is a green energy which seems to be emanating off of a beautiful brown haired woman.

"It won't be long now." Praxis said. "The last of your energies are just about absorbed. Now, I will destroy you and then Earth. Say goodbye."

Praxis began to charge up dark energy. Brent and Eraion looked on as the crimson and black energy flowed outwards from Praxis to his hands. Brent shivers as the dark energy collects and concentrates in Praxis's hand. Suddenly, a beam of dark energy is launched with its target being Gaea. Eraion's eyes widen in shock as a smirk of victory comes across Praxis's face. The blast hits and the impact reverberates as a yelp is heard.

"See you cannot…" Praxis began. "What the…"

Praxis looks on as the smoke clears and there is a bright red shield appears around the cage.

"Who dares?" Praxis yelled.

"I dare!" Brent said as he and Eraion break through the window.  
"And who might you be stranger?" Praxis asked coolly.

"My name is Brent and you are not welcome here." Brent said. "So leave and return this place to its original state or suffer the consequences."

"Boy, you will do nothing to me." Praxis said. "I do not know how you got here, but your sheer insolence and attitude will cost you dearly."

"Try and get Gaea out of there, I will handle this guy." Brent said to Eraion.

"Okay" Eraion said as he carefully made his way to the cage.

Praxis rushed at Brent and launched blasts of dark energy at him. Brent quickly put up another telekinetic shield and braced himself for impact. The blast rippled off of Brent's shield as he flinched and the shield waivered.

'Damn, that was a powerful blast.' Brent thought as he ducked under a fist and maneuvered his shield close to his body.

Brent delivered an uppercut to Praxis. As his fist connected with Praxis's gut, Brent yelped in pain. Praxis laughed sinisterly as he launched a vicious kick to Brent's side. Brent flew through the air and fell to the floor, grabbing his side in pain. Praxis ran over and prepared to kick Brent again. Brent eyes glowed red as Praxis stopped and was thrown back into a wall.

"Well it looks like you still have some fight in you." Praxis said getting back up.

"Always…" Brent said. 'I can't keep this bravado going for too much longer; whatever is protecting him, I can't break through.'

'Brent, I can't break through Praxis's magic.'Eraion thought.

'Dammit' Brent thought.

Praxis's hands begin to glow with dark energy as he smirked sinisterly. He began to run full speed toward Brent. Brent's eyes glowed again as red spikes erupted from the ground. Praxis ran through them, crushing them beneath his feet. Brent yelled out in pain as the psychic backlash hit him. Praxis punched him in the chest with which erupted in a blast on impact. Brent was thrown back through the broken window and was rapidly falling to the ground below.

'I guess this is it for me.' Brent thought. 'I wonder what dying will feel like.'

"_Brent, you must trust in your elemental abilities." _A voice said.

'But I can't control them.' Brent thought. 'All they do is cause harm to people; I can't do that.'

"_Stop fighting against something that is apart of you." _The voice said. _"Your power to control the elements is just as natural as your Psionic capabilities or your white hair and blue eyes. You need to completely merge yourself with this power. Do not dominate it and do not submit to it. Work with it and attune yourself to this primal force."_

'I don't know if I can.' Brent said as the ground drew closer and closer.

"_You won't know unless you try…" _The voice said fading. _"Or you could just die…"_

Brent closed his eyes and smiled. He opened his eyes again and they were engulfed in bright white light. The elemental powers began to surge through Brent's body as a wind caught him gently before he hit the ground. Clouds began to gather as thunder rumbled. Brent could feel this world connecting with his mind. Rather than putting it under his command, he embraced it. Soon, he felt the power pulsate through him. It felt as if he had a complete rush of energy, that he could do virtually anything. Brent summoned an updraft which carried him back up to the window.

"So as I was saying, it is now time for you to meet your demise." Praxis said as he heard the rumble of thunder. "Now what is that?"

As Praxis turned around, a bolt of lightning came crashing through the window and struck him in the chest. He groaned pain and dropped down to one knee.

"This is not over." Brent said as electricity arced off of him.

"I suppose it is not." Praxis replied standing back to feet. "So you have the power of the elements."

"Yes and this is now your last warning, leave here and never return." Brent said. "Or face the wrath of the Lord of the Storm."

"Really, then take this!" Praxis yelled as he launched a swarm of locusts at Brent.

Brent summoned a gale force wind which drove the locusts in a different direction. Praxis's face contorted to rage and summoned two more dark blasts. Brent acted quickly and flew out the window.

"See how he flees at my power." Praxis said in triumph. "Now I will…"

Suddenly the roof of the Citadel cracked and broke apart as a tornado descended on Praxis. Praxis looked up and Brent is at the center of it.

"This is your absolute final warning; I do not wish to harm you any further." Brent yelled. "Yield or you will be seriously injured."

"You false lord have not even come close to doing more harm than a pair of safety scissors." Praxis yelled. "Now I have toyed enough with you, its time to die."

"Have it your way then." Brent said.

Praxis tried to launch himself upwards but could not. He looked down at his feet and noticed that there is frost rapid climbing up his feet. He looked back up to see freezing rain falling on him in buckets. He screaed in pain as the frozen water struck him and immediately solidified. He opened his mouth to speak but mist is the only thing that was able to escape. He felt his upper brain functions begin to slow and join his other bodily functions that have achieved an inert state. Brent stopped the tornado when a cylindrical ice tube surrounding Praxis. Brent descended in front of the tube and walked over to the man.

"Stand back Gaea." Brent said with his eyes still glowing.

A bolt of lightning struck the cage and overloaded the system. The door sprung open and Gaea walked out with an air of power. As soon as she stepped out of the cage, the Citadel changed. It began to reflect the power of nature with vines and trees covering every inch of citadel.

"Thank you Brent for saving me." Gaea said.

"Wait, that voice was you?" Brent asked incredulously.  
"Yes, we are connected because of your mutant ability." Gaea said. "Your power connects you with the Earth in a more intimate way than your telepathy connects you with the minds of others. You must keep this in mind as your destiny reveals itself."

"Well that is just it; I may have been able to control the primal force of the elements this time…" Brent began.

"…But what about the next time?" Gaea said.

"Exactly" Brent said. "I mean, the emotion behind summoning the elements is beautiful; like a true work of art. But it is the single most destructive force this world has ever seen. My power has shaped mountains, filled oceans, destroyed whole landmasses, devastated cities, villages, countries and I see beauty in that. What type of person does that make me?"

"You see something that nobody in the world could even imagine." Gaea said. "You see the big picture. Ecologically, meteorologically, and psychologically, you put together what scientists on your world dream of doing. You can see the value in everything that happens. You can see what is right and wrong simply by feeling it. When you closed yourself off to that judgment after the riot, you stifled a part of your being that is intricate to Brent Monroe-Summers."

"How do you know about the…" Brent began.

"We're connected Brent." Gaea smiled. "I know everything about you. Yes your powers are destructive and dangerous but they are necessary. As you grow and learn more and more of what you can truly do, you will come to understand what I tell you now. But can you now see the importance of your power?"

"I can, but I still feel as though there is a wild beast within me struggling to be free." Brent said. "And I am afraid of releasing the beast."

"That is something intimate that your mother knows all about." Gaea said. "You have great potential Brent which can be used for many, many wondrous things. I hope saving me has reconnected your bond with the elements."  
"Yes, I felt like there has been something missing for me for a while now." Brent said. "I thought it was vengeance on Joshua, but it turns out that it was my true bond with the elements."

"Well I think there is nothing more I can do for you here." Gaea said.

"Thank you Gaea, I do truly appreciate this." Brent said. "I… oh yea, I am going to need a way to get back to Earth."

"I can grant you that." Gaea said as her hands glowed with energy. "Just remember, much what revolves around your species is balance and equilibrium. The same functions for you and your powers. Seek balance between you and the elements and you will always be in control. Now where would you like to go?"

"I don't know, usually people have been guiding me on this journey." Brent replied.

"I think I know the best place." Gaea said as she projected energy around him. "The key to all the power you hold is balance."

Suddenly Brent felt as if his body were lurched upwards and squeeze through a tube of toothpaste. He felt this way for about 10 minutes until he was slammed hard to the ground.

"Jeez, if that is how magical teleportation feels I have no idea why Elias does it." Brent said as he gained his bearings. "Now, where am I?"

Brent looked up as he got off the ground and saw an old store front. He looked around and it looks as though the place has not been used for a while.

"Brent?" A male voice came from behind him.

"Who… oh Jamie." Brent replied as he saw the infamous duplicating mutant. "I didn't know the X.S.E. worked out of this?"

"They don't, X-Factor does." Jamie said.

"X-Factor… What's that?" Brent asked.

"A mutant detective agency." Jamie replied.

'Gaea must've picked this place for a reason.' Brent thought. "Could you use another agent?"

"Sure, in fact we are pretty swamped at the moment." Jamie said. "But I thought you were leading the Young X-men?"

"Let's just say I am doing some soul searching and they really don't need me right now." Brent replied.

"Alright then, welcome to X-Factor." Jamie said as he led Brent into the building. 


	4. The Death of Psychic Storm

**Chapter 4: The Death of Psychic Storm**

Brent walked down the long, winding hallway. So much had happened to him in the last month and a half. He has been broken down mentally and emotionally. Constant demons reared their ugly heads and revealed true intentions to Brent. He thought about what his powers meant and who he was as a person. He had still not decided who he was; just that he was no longer Psychic Storm. That persona had been something that Brent never fully was. In fact, it was something that stifled Brent's true potential. Now, Brent has discarded the codename of Psychic Storm and ponders who he is now.

"'Welcome to X-factor' is what they told me." Brent said as he approached the door at the end of the hallway.

As his fingers touched the knob, he thought back to that day that he arrived at X-factor…

"So why are you here Brent?" Jaime asked.

"I really needed a change of scenery." Brent replied.

"Well I guess a smoldering building is not much for scenery." Jamie said as he opened a door. "Well this is the rest of the team. I am sure you are familiar with Monet."

"Oh yea, you tried to read my mind during that one mission." Brent said.

"Yes, I remember that quite well." Monet said as she walked over to Brent. "You're lucky that I did not press further."

"I'm sure." Brent said as he shook her hand and winced. "What a grip."

"Yes, it's been known to break people." Monet said as she let go.

"I'll keep that in mind." Brent said as he nursed his hand.

"That over there is Strong Guy and the red-headed girl is Siryn." Jamie said pointing people out. "Guys this is Brent, leader of the Young X-men."

"Hello guys." Brent said. "And I think you mean former leader of the Young X-men."

"Well, they are just fixing the mansion now; I am sure you will return to status once construction is complete." Jamie said.

"I am not too sure they want me back." Brent said looking down.

"What? Why?" Jamie exclaimed. "You were a really good leader on that one mission."

"A lot has happened since then." Brent sighed. "There were some things that happened and I feel like I just… can't be there right now."  
"And we're just supposed to trust this." Monet said. "What are you hiding?"  
"I did some awful things to my teammates and made some poor, misguided decisions." Brent said. "I almost killed one of my teammates, got one captured by Weapon X, almost killed him, stripped the memories of myself from my former second in command, let my campaign for vengeance blind how much I hurt her and my team… and the list goes on."

"Well…" Jamie said.

"I dinna know if this is the place for you dear." Siryn said as she backed away.

"Yea, we don't need someone on this team who's gonna kill everyone." Strong Guy said.

"In my defense I _almost_ killed." Brent said smiling as everyone looked at him with more apprehension. "It was a joke. I guess X-factor is not known for its riveting sense of humor."

"It's just tha', I do na' know how we can trust ya." Siryn said. "Tha's a lot to lay on a person."

"I know and I don't expect to be instantly welcomed with open arms, but if you can give me a chance…" Brent started.

"I don't know." Strong man said. "Whadda ya think boss man?"

"Why not, I mean he is just a kid overall." Jamie said. "We can handle him if something bad happens."

"Okay kid, you're on the team." Monet said. "But if you dare betray us, I will break you in half myself."

"I hope you do." Brent said.

Brent turned the knob of the door and pushed slightly. As the door opened, a bright light dazzled him and reminded him of another time…

The light of the X-factor training facility blinded Brent. He shut them quickly to protect what was left of his sight. He opened his eyes and blinked to adjust to the difference in light.

"Welcome to the X-factor training area." Jamie said.

Brent looked around. The room looked like an open area with padded walls and a padded ceiling. The ceiling is vaulted with a maximum height of around 18 feet. Brent assumed that this was for those with the power of flight to have some sort of maneuverability. He looked to his left and saw a room filled with different types of exercise equipment which could work all parts of the body.

"Well this certainly isn't as high tech as the danger room, but it gets the job done." Jamie said.

"I can see that." Brent said. "So are there hard light holograms and such to test our abilities?"

The rest of the team burst out in laughter.

"What? Did I say something funny?" Brent inquired confused.

"We don't use holograms here." Strong man said guffawing.

"You mean we don't need holograms here." Monet said chuckling.

"So, how do you train?" Brent asked embarrassedly.

"Well, we usually spar with each other." Jamie said. "And since you are the new person here, we need to evaluate your skill."

"Okay, how are you going to do that?" Brent asked.

"Us versus you." Monet said smiling sinisterly.

"What?!" Brent exclaimed.

"Lights" Monet said as the room was covered in darkness.

Suddenly Brent heard a scream in the air and he was blasted into the room. He tried looking around, but the darkness made it difficult.

'Okay, calm down. I can't allow myself to panic." Brent thought. 'I need to ascertain their locations in order to determine where their attacks will come from."

Brent placed his fingers on his temples and started to concentrate. He let his mind drift into the mindscape and attempted to detect any others that were there. He kept getting scrambled images and confusing thoughts.

'Dammit, they're cloaked.' Brent thought.

Suddenly a fist connected with his chest, throwing him back. Brent suspected he was going to hit a wall, however, a kick connected with his back. Pain shot through Brent's back as the force of the kick knocked him to the floor. When he hit the floor, several blows kept coming at all parts of his body. Brent quickly curled up into the fetal position and tried to ignore the painful blows.

'I need these guys to get away." Brent said as his eyes began to glow white. "AWAY!"

At that moment, a huge gust of wind blew his assailants away. Brent opened his eyes and once again saw the world in patterns of energy. He saw balls of electricity around the room to which he assumed was the electrical current of the minds of the X-factor team. Clouds began to billow along the underside of the roof. Lightning started travelling from cloud to cloud providing flashing illumination. The light confirmed what his powers showed him. He saw a pile of Jamies thrown back and the rest of the team surrounding him.

"Nice move." One of the Jamies said.

"Thanks" Brent responded.

"Now Siryn!" Monet yelled.

Out of the distance, another scream ripped through the air and hit Brent in the chest. It was as if a sledge hammer had just hit him full force. Air rushed out of Brent as he began to fall. Pain rippled throughout Brent's body. Another scream rang through the air as Brent began to concentrate. He fought the strain and worked through the pain. He felt the concussive force of the scream press towards him and summoned a wind to move him out of the way.

"_I will take care of him by attacking him psychically." _Monet said telepathically. _"Just keep him distracted."_

'Right' The rest of the team thought.

Brent continued to dodge blasts from Siryn and Jaimes being launched at him by Strong Man. Monet closed her eyes and began to concentrate. She felt her mind reach out into the mindscape and sensed Brent's mind almost immediately. The sheer elemental energies being radiated off of his mind drew her in like a moth to a flame. She pressed forward, completely lured.

'Okay, I need to think of a way to end this non-lethally.' Brent thought. 'Okay, Strong Guy and Jamie are a hassle over there but I can keep them at bay. Siryn is also not too big of a deal. Wait, where is Monet?'

At that moment, he felt the familiar sensation of someone pressing against the defenses of his mind.

"No, don't…" Brent yelled as he felt his mental defenses flare.

Suddenly Monet screamed as the electrical energies repelled her mental assault and hit her with psychic backlash. The scene slowed from Brent's perception, Monet dropped to the floor as Strong Guy yelled her name. Siryn looked down at Monet and back to Brent angrily as she inhaled deeply. A powerful shriek erupted from her diaphragm directed at Brent. Brent tried to move out of the way but still took the brunt of the attack. Brent fell from the sky and hit the ground hard.

"Brent… Brent…" Jaime said as the scene reverted.

"Oh, I'm sorry Jaime." Brent said as he entered the office. "I guess my mind was wandering."

"That's alright, but I am going to need you sharp for this next mission." Jaime said. "There is a lot at stake and I need to know that I can trust you."

"Funny, I thought I already proved that to you and the rest of X-factor." Brent said.

Brent thought back to another time with X-Factor…

The stares were burning into his skull as Brent sat down at a table by himself and began to eat. Every time he looked up, the rest of the team looked down. Monet would often glare at him with venomous eyes.

'I don't know how much longer I can take this.' Brent thought. 'I don't even know why I am here. I was just sent here by Gaea, but I don't need to be here. They have a team that trusts each other and would do anything for each other. I am just an outsider with a past that is tumultuous at best. Maybe I should just leave.'

All of a sudden, an alarm begins to blare.

"What's going on?" Brent asked.

"We gotta go punk." Strong Guy said.

"We're not bringing him." Monet said with finality.

"The boss man said we gotta." Strong Guy said.

"I don't care what Jamie said, he is a danger to us and this mission." Monet argued. "He's not going."

"We may need wha he can do." Siryn said cautiously. "I am na happy with this eitha, but he has resources tha we can use."

"Thank you" Brent said.

"Do na thank me." Siryn said. "If it were up to me, I would'a thrown you out tha second ya came here."

"Yea, that goes double for me." Strong Guy said.

"I don't care what you guys say, we are not bringing him." Monet said.

"Enough!" Jaime said in his Multiple Man uniform. "I lead this team and I say that he is coming; end of discussion."

The team looked between Monet and Jaime, pondering if she dared to defy his direct order.

"Fine" Monet said curtly. "But don't blame me when he doesn't come back in one piece."

The team boards the jet in the lower hanger while the air is thick with tension. Brent can sense the thoughts of the team. Some wonder if Jaime is doing the right thing, while others blame Brent for the sense of disunity among their team, while Jaime is oddly unreadable. After a couple of hours of flight, the team finally arrives at their destination.

"Alright team; there is a mutant mob situation here. We need to safely evacuate any of the civilians from the area. Also, there are many armed mobsters there." Jaime began. "This is how we are going to do this: Siryn and Strong Guy, I need you to handle the armed mobsters. Monet, I need you to back me up; we're taking out the big guy. Brent, you are on crowd control. Make sure those people get out safely."

The team nods in agreement as each of them receive their assignments.

"Brent, can you generate a wind to take us down there?" Jaime asked.

"That should not be a problem." Brent replied.

The jet door opened as Brent's eyes glowed white. Brent jumped out of the jet as the team looked at him with apprehension. Jamie threw caution to the wind and leapt out soon after. Monet and Strong Guy soon followed while Siryn began her sonic scream. The group descended down gently as shots began to ring out below. The team responded quickly as they hit the ground. Brent's eyes immediately turned red as he put up a telekinetic shield around a group of citizens. He flew over to them and began to gently prod their minds. He began to systematically sedate their minds and influenced them to evacuate the area. Suddenly, Brent hears a loud scream and a thud. He turns around to see Siryn passed out on the ground along with Strong Guy. He saw three armed mobsters cock their guns.

"No!" Brent yelled as his eyes glowed white.

Suddenly a gust of wind swept up the three mobsters and knocked them back into a building. They dropped to the ground and fell unconscious. Brent looked around to see where Monet and Jamie went. He saw Monet fall to the ground and eight Jamies engaged with a larger man.

"Multiple Man!" Brent yelled.

"Brent, keep on the civilians." Jamie yelled back.

"_But you are in need of assistance." _Brent replied telepathically.

'The people are more important.' Jamie thought.

"_Alright"_ Brent said.

Brent noticed that several more mobsters have run over to his position. They all cocked their guns at the remaining people. The mobsters began to unload their clips into the crowd of people. Brent acted quickly and did the only thing that he could think of. He created a down draft directly in front of the people and an up draft on their location. The bullets slowed down quickly and the updraft pulled the people upwards toward the sky. Brent summoned thin bolts of lightning to knock the mobsters out. He carried the people to a safer location and rushed back. He still saw Jamie engaged but the others have disappeared.

"_Jamie, where are the others?" _Brent asked telepathically.

'I don't know, they were just here…' Jamie thought. 'See if you can penetrate his mind and ascertain their location.'

"_Alright"_ Brent said.

Brent began to concentrate as his mind drifted to the mob boss. He pressed and tried to penetrate his defenses but they proved to be formidable. Summoning more mental strength, Brent pushed harder. He managed to break through for a couple of moments and quickly flashed his mind of himself. As soon as he was finished, Brent was thrust out of the mob boss's mind. The mob boss seemingly disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"Brent, are you okay?" Jamie said.

"Yea" Brent replied weakly.

Jamie's voice pulled Brent out of his recent memory.

"I know you've proven yourself by dedicating insurmountable amount of time to try and find the X-factor team." Jamie said. "I do trust you Brent. I have trusted since you first got here. However, I am going to need you to trust yourself for this mission."

"What do you mean?" Brent asked. "I trust myself… mostly."

"Brent, the person I saw those months ago was confident." Jamie said. "He knew his team as well as his own strengths, weaknesses, and limits. You had the confidence of a leader that was complete and had total trust in himself. That person would not have come in here and let us beat you up and push you around. That person would not have just adhered to my orders, but trusted your own instincts. We need that person now."

"I don't know Jamie, Psychic Storm is dead." Brent said.

"I didn't say I wanted Psychic Storm, I want a confident leader." Jamie said. "I'll give you a moment to decide who you want to be."

With that, Jamie got up and left Brent alone to mull his own thoughts. He closed his eyes and found himself back in the meadow of his mind. And this time, a figure was standing there; a familiar figure.

"Psychic Storm" Brent said.

"I am still an unresolved issue." Psychic Storm said. "You need me to pull off the mission Jamie is asking."

"I do not need you!" Brent yelled. "You ruined everything!"

"Brent, dear deluded Brent…" Psychic Storm said exasperatedly. "I am not the one who ruined things. I am your ego. I am the sheer embodiment of your confidence. People saw self-righteousness, but they still respected the fact that I am effective. I am the reason you became leader of the young X-men."

"That's not true." Brent said shakily.

"Think about it; as Brent, you were a freshman who was easily manipulated and weak. As Psychic Storm, you became leader of one of the most powerful young hero teams in your sophomore year. Now back as Brent, you aren't even strong enough to prevent the capture of the X-Factor team. Psychic Storm is just better."

"…"

"Look, you can't even deny it now." Psychic Storm said. "Just embrace your ego again and things will be back to normal soon enough."

"Psychic Storm, I see it now." Brent said. "You are indeed my confidence and ego. You are just a failure combination of my emotional state and my logical mind. I mean, Madame Webb explained it and Gaea tried to explain it, but I have never seen it before until now. You are right, I do need you Psychic Storm; however, not as you exist now."

"What" Psychic Storm said as he began to glow. "What are you doing?"

"I am doing what I should've done a long time ago." Brent said as one eye was glowing red while the other glowed white. "Grow up and change for the better."

Suddenly, Psychic Storm was torn apart and there were only two glowing, amorphous beings of energy. Brent looked at them and pulled them into himself.

"I never knew growing up was so easy." Brent said to himself as he opened his eyes.

"So what is the decision?" Jamie asked as he reentered the room.

"No decision to be made." Brent said confidently. "X-Factor is in trouble and I'm the only one that can help."

"Well, that is refreshing." Jamie said. "So what are you thinking?"

"Well you set out the mission parameters." Brent began. "I need to infiltrate, assimilate, and rescue X-factor as well as the other things that mob is keeping."

"Alright" Jamie said. "I have a plane ticket for Singapore. That is where you saw the base of this organization."

"Yes, and I think I managed to wipe his mind of my identity so that shouldn't be too big of a problem." Brent said.

"Well it is time for you to get changed and go." Jamie said. "Remember, there are going to be some serious psi-shields there; little to no contact."

"I know, just keep an eye on Singapore weather." Brent said smirking. "You'll know when to come."

With that, Brent left the room. He went down to one of the lower levels and grabbed hair clippers, dye, scissors, a welding torch and an assortment of cloth and other textiles. He work feverishly and it helped that he had telekinesis to make this work faster. When Brent came back, he looked completely different. His hair is cut shorter, spiked with black highlights but still predominantly white. It looks like the white hair blends in with the black. He placed a black lightning bolt tattoo over his right eye. He is wearing a black leather jacket with a silver undershirt. Emblazed on the front of the silver shirt is a crimson "T". He wore silver colored gloves which had iron tips colored black on the knuckles and crimson lightning bolts on the back hand. He is wearing black jeans with thin crimson lightning bolts running down the front and back of jeans.

"So" Brent asked.

"Badass" Jamie replied as he handed Brent a plane ticket. "Bring 'em back and give 'em hell."

"I will" Brent said as his eyes glowed crimson.

Meanwhile in Westchester New York…

"You have been very hard to keep up with Brent darling." Emma said as she took the newest incarnation of Cerebra off of her head. "It seems you are coming full circle on your journey. The time draws near to bring you back to the fold… to lead a new incarnation of X-men…"


	5. Rise Tempest

**Chapter 5: Rise Tempest**

Brent is on a commercial plane. It is one of the most interesting things to him. It is quite different than flying a jet or commanding the winds to keep him aloft. There is a degree of confinement which makes him feel uneasy. There is a lack of control which unnerves him, even more than the stares that he got as he boarded the plane. He thanked the goddess for telepathy. After several hours of flight time, the plane had finally landed in Singapore.

'Thank goodness this flight is over, I was about to go stir crazy.' Brent thought as he grabbed his duffel bag from the overhead compartment.

He quickly departed from the plane and airport onto the busy streets of Singapore. He had to acclimate himself to the new environment. The air was different than in Westchester or even where X-Factor was located. It reminded him of New York City in a way but a bit more polluted. He still felt the same cry from the scarred Earth, much like every urban city he has been to. He acknowledged it, but put the feeling aside. Brent has a mission to do and he plans on doing so.

'So I need to try and find the location of this crime lord.' Brent thought as his eyes begin to glow a slight crimson. 'I am only going to use enough telepathy to narrow down my search.'

Brent felt his mind gently prod the mindscape and glaze over the thoughts of people he sees in passing. Most if not all of the thoughts are open to him. Most people are concerning themselves with the mundane; work, errands, meetings, so on and so forth. There were a few times where he felt some resistance, but it seemed to be due to some people who were particularly private with their affairs. After doing this for about an hour, Brent decided to widen his search. Brent ducked into an ally, closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt his mind expand through the mindscape and sensed an area that had a familiar psychic block. Brent opened his eyes and made his way to that location quickly. Brent walked for about 2 hours and found himself outside of the city. There is a large building that looks quite out of place. The surrounding area is mostly plains and grassland but the building looks like a corporate headquarters. Brent approached the building cautiously. Two guards were in a guard post and watched as this punk teenager walked up to headquarters.

"What do you want kid?" A guard with a name tag that read "Ted" asked.

Brent quickly read his mind and gathered that there was an underground arena where the _real_ business takes place.

"I'm here as the newest fighter." Brent said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The other guard who wore a name tag which read "Kevin" replied.

"I think you do sigma, phi, gamma, omega, and theta." Brent said.

"I see, welcome to the Triton Organization." Kevin said as the main gate opened.

Brent walked behind the guard and through the gates. As soon as he stepped foot onto the compound, his mind began to feel static-like.

'Dammit, these psi-scramblers are killing me.' Brent thought as he tried to maintain pretense of face. 'I gotta put most of my Psionic energy into blocking it.'

Kevin led Brent into the building. The inner plaza had a crystalline fountain in the center of the room sitting on an obsidian black floor. Kevin led Brent to an elevator on the other side of the room. Brent became a bit uneasy not knowing where the guard was taking him.

"So, where are we going?" Brent asked in the elevator.

"We can't just have you go on to the fights without knowing what type of fighter you are." Kevin said. "This is your stop."

The doors opened and led to a laboratory of sorts. There was machinery whirring and men in lab coats were busy going around to all of the other tubes and fighters.

"Is this the newest subject?" A man in a lab coat said as Kevin and Brent approached the scene.

"Yes Dr. Spencer" Kevin said.

"You are dismissed; go back to your post." Dr. Spencer said sternly. "Now what is your name subject XX?"

"I am known as Tempest." Brent said.

"Is that your real name?" Dr. Spencer asked as his eyes glowed purple.

Brent could feel the intense mental probe trying to penetrate his mind. Brent knew he could not lower his shielding from the psi-scramblers enough to block this doctor out. Instead, he used his remaining Psionic energy to generate an illusion of memories which support his testament.

"Hmm, I guess that all you have ever been known as is this 'Tempest.'." Dr. Spencer said eyeing Brent suspiciously. "Very well then, what is your mutant ability?"

"I have the ability to generate weather effects from my body." Brent said. "Usually just electricity… oh and wind to increase my speed and strength."

"Is it only from your body or can you actually manipulate weather patterns?" Dr. Spencer asked.

"Just from my body" Brent said as he felt the doctor press against his mind once more.

"Okay, are there any other abilities that you have?" Dr. Spencer asked.

"None" Brent replied.

"Very well, please enter the chamber for your physical evaluation." Dr. Spencer said simply.

"Alright" Brent said looking cautiously at the machine.

"There is nothing to worry about, if I wanted to torture or kill you, I would've done so already." Dr. Spencer said as he ushered Brent into the chamber.

Dr. Spencer closed the door and started the machine. The machine buzzed to life and started its analysis. Dr. Elliott walked over and looked at Brent in the chamber.

"So what do you think?" Dr. Elliott asked.

"This is a powerful one." Dr. Spencer said. "We usually get delta even gamma level mutants. Even rarer are some betas, but I think he might be an alpha or alpha plus even."

"What is he doing here then?" Dr. Elliott asked.

"Apparently he heard about this place on the streets." Dr. Spencer said.

"Apparently?" Dr. Elliott asked.

"He states that his only power is to generate weather effects from his body, but I could swear for a moment that I sensed some Psionic power." Dr. Spencer said.

"Well, the genetic analysis portion of the machine is done, what do the results say?." Dr. Elliott said.

"According to this, the results are inconclusive." Dr. Spencer sighed. "His body emits large amounts of electromagnetic energy which supports his claim to generate electricity and weather effects, but the data is too fractured to make a precise analysis."

"Well I guess we will have to see how he does in the next stage." Dr. Elliott said.

Brent was becoming anxious as the machinery began. He looked down and noticed that another doctor had joined Doctor Spencer. Brent's eyes began to glow slightly white as he shifted his vision to see the flow of energy in the machine. He determined that the energies did not seem to be dangerous but knew that the data could be the key to discovering his identity. He started discharging low voltage electricity in hopes that will mess with something.

'Well, it looks like this is just about done.' Brent thought.

Suddenly a click is heard and gas starts hissing from the ceiling. Brent was prepared to react, but his mind clicked and he relaxed. He managed to portray panic, but knew that they did not want to kill him. The gas slowly filled his lungs, entered his bloodstream and rushed to his brain. His upper brain functions slowed as the world began to go black. What felt like moments later; Brent groggily woke up. The first thing that he noticed was the muffled sound of a crowd that was steadily becoming clearer. The next thing that he noticed was the smell of sweat, musk, and blood that filled the air. He finally put the picture together as he looked around. He was trapped in what appeared to be a steel cage. Beyond the cage is an underground arena that is filled to the brim with people. Brent looked down at his arms and noticed that there were bracers there. He tried to access his powers but felt as if they were at their minimum.

'These must be some sort of power inhibitors.' Brent thought. 'I assume that they didn't want me to put up a fight if I woke up early. What do I do now?'

Brent begins to assess the situation. Before he could make a plan of action, an announcer's voice is heard over a speaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a wonderful treat for tonight!" The announcer began. "We are happy to present a seasoned veteran of a fighter, Strong Guy from the team known as X-Factor."

Brent was wide-eyed at the revelation. His mind reeled as he tried to formulate a plan.

'I need to think of something quick.' Brent thought. 'I don't know enough about this game, so I have to go along with it until I discover more about this.'

"Just in case you are a little fuzzy about what Strong Guy can do, here is a little background." The announcer began pulling Brent out of his thoughts. "Strong Guy is a pretty powerful mutant that can lift up to 50 tons. He also has kinetic energy absorption which increases his strength and stamina. He is quite a physical phenomenon."

'Okay, that was very useful but I need to discover if he has any sort of weakness.' Brent thought.

"In our other corner is a mutant new to the fighting circuit." The announcer said. "This punk teen has the ability to generate weather-like effects from his body such as lighting, wind, snow, and such. Meet Tempest! It's time to place your bets."

Brent looked over at Strong Guy to try and see what is going on. His eyes look lifeless and dull.

'He may be under some type of mind control.' Brent thought. 'I can't tell if it is Psionic or mechanical. This is probably going to be problematic if I have to try and fight him mentally. I don't know too much about his powers, but I remember reading about Sebastian Shaw and he had similar powers. I can try to overload him with energy and hopefully that will work.'

"Alright, betting time is now over." The announcer said. "It's time to see if your bet paid off. The rules are simple, the first individual to be incapacitated, knocked out, or die is defeated; double points for the individual who kills their opponent. Now then, begin!"

Strong Guy started running toward Brent to grapple him. Brent dodged out of the way and quickly activated his Atmokinetic abilities. His hands started crackling as the steel points on the knuckles of his gloves sparked with electricity. Strong Guy turned around as Brent punched Strong Guy in the lower back. Strong Guy roared in pain as the steel pierced his flesh and electricity flowed through his body. Strong Guy looked as Brent pulled back his arm and smiled sinisterly. He lunged at Brent and grabbed him. He hurled Brent at the other side of the cage. Brent managed to use the wind to soften the blow but it still hurt like hell.

'I can see the flow of energy going through his body, but wait…' Brent thought as he looked intently at Strong Guy coming at him again. 'There are electrical impulses around his heart they're not like the human heart, they're almost mechanical.'

Brent's focus was broken as he dodged out the way of a powerful punch delivered by Strong Guy. Brent was about to attack when Strong Guy anticipated an attack and kicked Brent in the chest. Pain rippled from Brent's chest as he felt several bones snap. He landed hard as he hit the ground on his back. Pain radiated from both areas as Brent felt the rumbling beneath him of Strong Guy approaching. Strong Guy leapt up in the air and angled his elbow to drop down. Brent rolled out of the way as Strong Guy crashed down. Waves of force blew Brent back as he rolled over. Brent managed to stumble to his feet as pain rippled throughout his body.

'I need to hit him in the chest with all I've got.' Brent thought as Strong Guy ran toward him.

Brent saw the neural message that Strong Guy's brain sent to his arm and knew that he was going to punch him with a right hook. Brent ducked under the punch, pulled back, gathered elemental energy, and launched a powerful punch directly to Strong Guy's chest. Strong Guy looked shocked and confused for a moment. Brent knew he only had a small window of opportunity. He closed his eyes and concentrated quickly. He pushed his way into Strong Guy's mind and quickly took everything he could from the time he disappeared until now. In this moment, it looked as though Brent just simply dealt the finishing blow to Strong Guy. The crowd looked shocked as Strong Guy hit the floor with a sickening thud. As Brent opened his eyes, he saw that Strong Guy was not breathing. He knew he had to look ruthless in order keep up pretenses. He walked over to Strong Guy, stood over him, slammed his foot down on his chest and sent a jolt of electricity to his pacemaker. It started up again, and Strong Guy started breathing.

"And the winner is, Tempest!" The announcer proclaimed.

The stunned audience began to cheer uproariously. The cage was open once more and lights began to blink on his bracers. He felt his powers drained from him once more. A man in a suit walked into the arena.

"So Tempest is it. That was quite an upset. The name is Joe Cambiadi." Joe said as he held out his hand.

"Yes it was." Brent said as he shook hands with Joe and grabbed his ribs.

"So, how did you know about the pacemaker?" Joe asked as he gathered two referees to hoist Brent up.

"Lucky guess I suppose." Brent replied. "I noticed a difference in his breathing and made a guess."

"Well more guesses like that and you'll be at the top of the game." Joe said. "Take him back boys."

Brent tried to stay conscious but his vision began to blur and the world turn black once more. Brent woke up what he thought was a couple of hours later. He found that he was in a very comfortable bed. He had wrappings around his chest and back. The pain seemed like a distant numb. Brent got up from bed and looked up when he heard the door open.

"'Bout time you got up." A girl with dark red hair said. "I guess it's to be expected, you took a real beating from that Strong Guy."

"Who are you?" Brent asked.

"They call me Hotshot." Hotshot said as she held out her hand.

"Tempest" Brent said shaking hands with the girl. "So what happens now?"

"Well you're a winner. So you get some recovery time and then move onto your next match." Hotshot said. "Winners stay in 5 star hotels and losers stay in cells."

"What happens to them?" Brent inquired.

"I don't really know; I've never lost." Hotshot said.

"How long have you been here?" Brent asked.

"Six months, it's been pretty sweet." Hotshot said. "Well, I am headed down to spar, wanna join in?"

"Sure, just give me a moment." Brent replied.

"Okay" Hotshot said as she left.

'Okay, this is far more difficult without my telepathy at its fullest, but I am going to try to remember.' Brent thought.

Brent sat on the bed and closed his eyes. He had flashes of the fight. He suddenly started getting memories that he knew were not his. He saw images of heroes in a cell, including X-Factor. He saw Joe visiting each cell and cuffing each individual with the power dampeners. He saw Joe touch his temple and look Strong Guy directly in the eye and things go blank. Brent opened his eyes and pondered what he saw for a moment.

'That is not much for me to go on.' Brent thought. 'Maybe that Hotshot girl knows a bit more than she is letting on.'

Brent got up and changed into a freshly cleaned costume. He walked out of the hotel room and went down to the exercise room. He saw Hotshot down there weight lifting.

"So, I noticed that you were holding back in your match against Strong Guy." Hotshot said as she dropped the weights.

"What are you talking about?" Brent asked.

"I've been here a while and I know when someone isn't giving it their all." Hotshot said as she threw a punch. "That's pretty stupid in this game."

"What the hell?" Brent exclaimed as he recovered from the blow.

"You rely on your powers too much." Hotshot said as she launched a kick at Brent's midsection.

"Well, if you got 'em, use 'em." Brent said dodging the blow.

"What happens when you don't?" Hotshot asked as her second side kick connected with Brent's abs.

The numbed pain instantly sharpened as Brent doubled over in pain.

"If you want to save them all, you're going to have to be better than what you are now." Hotshot said as she stood over Brent.

"How… how did you…" Brent huffed.

"Know?" Hotshot said. "Your fighting style gave it away. Also, you saved Strong Guy. He was as good as dead with that last hit you delivered, but you saved him. Most people didn't put two and two together, but I can see things most people don't."

"So who are you really?" Brent asked.

"I'm just someone who misses their family and wants to go home." Hotshot said. "So your next match is in a few days. You need to train and make it a good one."

Over the next couple of weeks, Brent worked on his melee fighting skills with Hotshot. He was still quite suspicious of the girl, but was glad that she was teaching him the ropes. There were several fights that went on during this time and Brent and Hotshot kept winning them. While this went on, Jaime sat at X-factor HQ worrying about the fate of his team and Brent.

'Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.' Jamie thought. 'He is just a kid; it's not his responsibility to take on rescuing an entire team.'

Jamie mulled over his thoughts until he was abruptly pulled out of them by a door opening.

"Who's there?" Jamie asked in a fighting stance.

"Darling that is not the warm welcome I was told X-Factor provides." Emma said as she entered the control room.

"What do you want Emma?" Jamie asked agitated.

"I want what belongs to the X-men." Emma said. "I want Brent."  
"Then why don't you find him." Jamie replied.

"Don't play games with me Madrox." Emma said. "This is the last place that I last sensed his presence."

"This is the last place you sensed him?" Jamie said. "I won't lie to you, he was here. However, he is doing an important mission for X-Factor."

"You do know that he is still an X-man." Emma said.

"That is not the opinion he expressed while he was here." Jamie said coldly.

"He was confused when he left and the best thing for him is to come back to the X-men where he belongs." Emma said.

"I think he can decide what is best for him." Jamie said.

"Well, I have two parents who would beg to disagree." Emma said as Storm and Cable walked in.

"Please Jamie, I have been worried sick." Ororo said despairingly. "I don't know what I would do if something happened to him."

"Ororo, I can assure that Brent is fine." Jamie said. "He is a very resourceful kid."

"I know, but he is my only child. Why won't you tell us where he is?" Ororo asked.

"He asked that I not tell anyone." Jamie said. "It wouldn't be right to betray that trust."

"But what if something happened or what if he is in danger?" Ororo said.

"He's not." Jamie replied calmly.

"You better hope so Madrox, because I swear if he doesn't come back to us; it'll be you that I come after." Cable said.

"He will be back soon enough and I will let you know when he returns." Jamie said. "Now if you'll excuse me."

Nathan led Ororo out of the room. As they left, she broke into tears once again. Jamie looked at them sadly.

"You're an excellent liar Jamie." Emma said.

"What do you mean?" Jamie asked.

"You are just as worried as they are." Emma said. "You don't even know if Brent is okay or not. Face it, you are in over your head here and it is time for the X-men to take over."

"Do what you need to Emma and I will do what I need to." Jamie said. "Now kindly leave."

Emma just turned around and left. Jamie went back to his monitors and looked for any new updates. He noticed that over the last couple of days, the pressure has been surely but steadily dropping in the Singapore area. He suddenly remembered the last discussion with Brent.

"So with no psi-link, how am I supposed to know if you're okay?" Jamie asked.

"Starting from the time that I get to Singapore, I am going to be lowering the atmospheric pressure steadily so I can summon massive storm." Brent began. "If the pressure normalizes, then something has happened and we will need the X-men. Once the pressure drops below 875mb, we're going to need a pick-up."

"Alright" Jamie said.

"Just make sure to not tell anyone about this." Brent warned. "I have been sensing Emma trying to find me. It's only a matter of time until they are going to come looking for me. If they know where I am, it's going to ruin the mission."

"That's true." Jamie said. "What about Emma? She can use her telepathy to read my mind and find out where you are."

"I have removed the memories of this mission." Brent said. "You'll remember this directly after Emma Frost leaves. That is the action that will remove this psychic block."

"Don't you think that she will pick up on that?" Jamie asked.

"It's too easy, Emma looks for subtlety." Brent said. "This is far too obvious; Achems Razor."

Jamie was brought back as the numbers on the monitor were steadily dropping at a slower rate.

"Well at least it's still dropping." Jamie said as the newest pressure readings were at 970mb.

In Singapore, several days passed at the hotel which Brent and Hotshot were staying. They both had been training non-stop during that time. After a very rigorous training session, the two are talking about the match the next day.

"So I've discovered something about this whole situation yesterday." Hotshot said.

"What?" Brent asked.

"Apparently the losers are sold off as slaves in an underground mutant auction." Hotshot said. "Tonight there is going to a huge auction after the fight of champions."

"We need to help them." Brent said.

"Tempest, you do realize what fight is going to happen tonight right?" Hotshot asked.

"It's probably going to be me versus Monet or someone else from X-Factor." Brent replied.

"No, it's a fight of champions." Hotshot said. "We're the combatants fighting for the championship."

"Alright, we're low on time." Brent said. "I have a plan."

"What is it?" Hotshot asked.

"I'll let you know later." Brent said. "Right now, I have some stuff to take care of."

Brent opened the door and left the room. Hotshot pulled out a cell phone and started to dial. She heard two rings and someone else picked up on the other side.

"Yo" A man's voice said.

"Joe, Tempest is on the move." Hotshot said. "He has a plan to save X-Factor and the rest of the prisoners."

"What is the plan?" Joe asked.

"He didn't say." Hotshot said. "He will probably tell me when he gets back."  
"We need him as a soldier in our army." Joe said. "He has powerful abilities that can serve our dark master well."

"I know, he will be defeated and assimilated." Hotshot said.

"He'd better, because if we do not capture him, it is you that will feel the wrath of our master." Joe said.

"Understood." Hotshot said. "And if I do this, will you let them go?"

"Still missing that ungrateful family of yours?" Joe said. "I thought you wanted them to suffer after what they did to you when they found out you were a mutant."

"I know, but they're still my family." Hotshot said.

"Pathetic." Joe said. "Very well, I will release your family if you are able to defeat Tempest."  
"Thank goodness." Hotshot said as she heard the click of the phone hang up.

Brent did not return to the Hotel that afternoon. He instead went out to a wooded area and began to concentrate. He knew his powers were at their absolute weakest but he could still feel the connection with the earth. He forced the atmospheric pressure to drop rather dramatically over the span of eight hours. When darkness of evening fell, Brent made his way to the hotel. He was lucky to catch the car that would bring both him and Hotshot to the Arena. He entered the back seat and saw Hotshot.

"Where ya been man?" Hotshot asked.

"Out" Brent replied. "I needed to get some stuff done."

"Is everything ready to go then?" Hotshot asked.

"It should be" Brent said.

The rest of the ride was rather quiet. They finally arrived at the arena. Both combatants were brought to the ring. Brent was dressed in the costume he was wearing the first time he fought.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is a match for the ages. Both of these combatants have proven themselves in this ring against very powerful opponents. It's now time to see how they fare versus each other." The Announcer said. "Place your bets."

Brent looked over at Hotshot. Her face is rather unreadable which unnerves Brent. He usually has been able to read people that he has gotten to know very well, but Hotshot is a wild card. He feels like she could be trusted since she helped him, but Brent gets the feeling that she's hiding something.

'Hopefully she'll understand why I have to do this.' Brent thought.

"Betting time is over; it's time to start the fight." The announcer said. "Fighters ready… begin!"

Brent's eyes glowed white as the device around his wrists are momentarily disabled. Hotshot launches some energy blasts at Brent. The winds begin to churn as the blasts hit the sheer force of the gales and created a minor explosion. As the dust was blown up, a loud boom is heard. Suddenly the room is illuminated with a bright flash of lightning. The cage is struck and overloaded with the powerful surge of electricity. Brent was bathed in lightning which destroyed the wrist devices. The hole in the roof, created by the lightning, flooded with wind and water as the typhoon outside raged. People screamed with confusion and panic as they looked for a way to get out. Hotshot had an energy field around her and remained unharmed. She looked at Brent and smirked. Brent smiled at her and launched two bolts of lightning at the ground. The ground split open and revealed several mutants that were knocked out including the rest of X-Factor.

"Joe, this ends now." Tempest announced. "In the name of X-Factor, you are under arrest."  
"You think you've won Brent." Joe said as Brent looked astonished. "Yes, I know who you are. There are things about you that I have discovered from my master."  
"Who is this master?" Tempest asked.

"You will know soon enough." Joe said. "But I am afraid I have to depart."

"I don't think so." Brent said as his eyes glowed red.

Brent prepared to launch mental blasts at Joe until Hotshot jumped in front Joe and projected a Psionic null field.

"Hotshot, what are you doing?" Tempest asked.

"She works for me Tempest." Joe said. "She embraced my master and soon you will too."

"Hotshot, you don't have to do this." Tempest said.

"Shut up and fight me." Hotshot said as she launched more energy blasts at Tempest.

Brent's eyes glowed white once more as he flew up in the air. He managed to effortlessly dodge the blasts. He summoned a powerful gale to pull them both out of the building and onto the front lawn where it all started. The weather outside is fierce as the typhoon peaked.

"I don't want to fight you." Tempest yelled.

"That is your problem Tempest." Hotshot yelled back as she gathered a ball of energy. "You just don't know when people can't be saved!"

Hotshot launched the ball of energy at Tempest. As it travels from Hotshot to Tempest, dirt and concrete are upturned by the force of the energy. Brent reacted quickly and summoned a powerful bolt of lightning to intercept the ball of energy. The mesh of energy exploded and knocked both combatants back. Brent used the wind to cushion himself and Hotshot used some energy to cushion herself.

"I think my problem is I never know when to give up." Tempest yelled as his eyes glowed white. "This match is over Hotshot. I know how your power works. You are able to discharge energy and heat. However, that heat comes from your body into the energy you discharge. That last blast lowered your body temperature by about 15 degrees. I have now lowered the temperature to that of 12 degrees. You are not going to be able to recover ambient heat from the air in enough time to prevent freezing. I am sorry."

Hotshot shivered furiously until her breathing slowed and she passed out. Brent raised the temperature and summoned a bolt of lightning to strike the top of the building. His eyes glowed red as he telekinetically lifted the mutants that were passed out to the front of the building. Then he telepathically tried to search for Joe Cambiadi. He could not get any sort of lock on him as two jets appeared in the sky. It took a moment but he recognized both of them. Both landed on the grounds; one on the right of Brent and the other on the left. Jamie came out of the one on the left while Emma Frost came out of the one on the right.

"Great job Brent." Jamie said.

"Thanks Jamie." Brent said. "I think they are all alright. Strong Guy might need further medical attention but the situation is under control."

"What were you able to find out?" Jamie asked.

"A man name Joe Cambiadi is responsible for the whole underground mutant fighting ring and for the mutant slaves. However, he was also working for someone else who remains unnamed." Brent explained. "I was able to save everyone here but could not capture Joe."

"You did your best and we got everybody back safe." Jamie said.

"Brent! Honey!" Ororo yelled as she ran over to them. "Oh my goodness, how are doing baby? Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?"

"Mom, I'm fine." Brent said. "In fact, I am better than I have ever been before."

"By the goddess, what did you do to your hair? Is that a tattoo?" Ororo asked shocked.

"I've gone through a few changes, but trust me its all for the better." Brent said.

"Brent, I would like to apologize for mine and the team's animosity toward you." Monet said as she walked over. "As far as I am concerned, you are a true member of X-factor."

"Speaking of teams, it is decision time darling." Emma Frost said.

"What do you mean?" Brent asked.

"We are creating a team of X-men which will be under my tutelage." Emma said. "It is a team of people that you are for the most part familiar with and I have chosen you to lead them."

"I don't know Mrs. Frost-Summers." Brent said. "I think I have done enough for X-men. They don't need me."

"Brent, you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened." Ororo said. "You've done great things for the X-men and they trust you enough to lead a new team."

"But what about X-Factor…" Brent said.

"Brent, it's up to you man." Jamie said. "No matter what happens, you'll always be a member of X-Factor and we owe you."

"Well I guess its back to the mansion then." Brent said. "I wonder if everyone else has had as adventurous a summer as me."

In an unknown location…

"Joseph, you have failed to acquire the army that I've needed." A sinister male voice said.

"Master, it was not my fault." Joseph said. "It was the Summers' child that stopped me."

"A mere child defeated you." The voice said angrily. "Which Summers' child was it?"

"The one born from the weather witch." Joseph said.

"So they had a child." The voice said. "That could be most useful… most useful indeed…"


End file.
